How I Met Your Mother - Part 2

[Dark Raven]

I really love the movie, 500 Days of Summer, and that character reminds me a lot of Ted, and recently I saw it and realized that the end is much more vague than I thought. When I first saw it, I figured he meets a girl and its the typical happily ever after ending from there, but then I realized it's not, and anything could've happened with that girl.

With that said, I always thought the series would and should end with him just meeting the mother, but the more I think about it, I think they also need to show why she was the one. They don't need another season, but rather some time devoted in the finale to showing possibly a montage of events that take place over the years that prove that she was the one Ted was waiting for.

I actually hope this is the last season because I feel like the main arc of Ted's search has been overshadowed by a lot of the other characters, which isn't a bad thing, but I would finally like to see them close that out instead of trying to fit as much as they can in between. As for the way I see it happening, I can see Ted going to each for the yellow umbrella, thinking it was his and they get into a discussion about how they have the same umbrella or something. Although I remember the first time they ever mentioned it, they showed it being blown away by the wind in the street, so I wonder if they changed it to happen at the wedding or if something happens and they interact afterward or something.

I agree. If they don't show why she is the one then she could just as easily be yet another one of his random dates he meets every week where he's positive he's found the one, only for her to be nothing significant at all. It would be just like the story goes on in his search for his soul mate.

It's like with Barney. If it were his story and he was thinking back on how he met Robin, it could have ended at the first episode where Robin first appeared. We wouldn't know how they dated for a while, broke up, got back together again and married eventually. If it ended with him simply meeting Robin, we would think everything worked out happily ever after from that point, when obviously it didn't.

So with Ted, we need to see a little more than just the physical meeting of him and the mother.

I do think though that it should be at least a few episodes rather than all squeezed into the finale. They should have a mini arc towards the end that builds up to Ted finally proposing or getting married. I think actually not even with proposing are things certain, because he was engaged to Stella before after all, and she left him at the altar.

 

[Sawyer]

The series has entered into what I like to call 'The Lost circle', in which the idea can't be stretched much longer, even though the series is still good.
By making the whole series like a big flashback/flashforward, they need to start thinking about the ending beforehand, unlike most sitcoms.

Except that LOST didn't stretch out their idea at all.

If anything, this is the "Smallville circle".

 

[Sawyer]

Also...

EW:

'How I Met Your Mother' casting: Abby Elliott scores first post-'SNL' gig -- EXCLUSIVE
by Sandra Gonzalez

SNL‘s loss is How I Met Your Mother‘s gain.

EW has learned exclusively that exiting SNL cast member Abby Elliott has scored an arc on the upcoming season of HIMYM, which kicks off Sept. 24.

“We’re thrilled to have the hilarious Abby Elliot joining us in an arc as Janeane, the craziest girl the HIMYM gang has ever encountered. And the strange, inexplicable phenomenon is: the crazier Janeane gets, the more attractive one of the gang finds her,” executive producer Craig Thomas tell us. “It doesn’t end well.”

Elliott is best known for her work on the long-running sketch show, where her impressions of Anna Faris and Angelina Jolie left a mark on audiences. Earlier this month, she announced that she was among the many familiar faces who would not appear in the new season of SNL. She had been there for four seasons.

Abby Elliott’s father, Chris Elliott, also recurs on HIMYM, playing Lily’s (Alyson Hannigan) father, Mickey Aldrin. Abby Elliott’s first episode will air sometime in the new year.

 

[JP]

Shame she's not playing someone related to Lily.

 

[DyeLorean]

Except that LOST didn't stretch out their idea at all.

Only at the beginning of season 3, when the writers decided they couldn't continue like that, and they finally made a deal to continue the series for an additional 3 more seasons.
That's apparently what they are doing now, they're treating this season like it's the last one, they need to keep an eye on the final chapters of the story.

 

[Sawyer]

Oh, okay, now I see what you're saying.

 

[Dark Raven]

The series has entered into what I like to call 'The Lost circle', in which the idea can't be stretched much longer, even though the series is still good.
By making the whole series like a big flashback/flashforward, they need to start thinking about the ending beforehand, unlike most sitcoms.

I get the feeling they do that already. There have been some episodes where they reference something as if Future Ted is talking with hindsight, but that episode doesn't happen for quite a while. He talked about the goat, for example, which turned up at 2 different birthday parties of his. He began to mention something about the 2nd incident with the goat but then said that he got the dates mixed up so it was actually the next birthday along.

Also Ted and Robin's breakup was already foreshadowed 2 episodes before when they showed up to the apartment covered in food. They didn't explain that at the time but elaborated on it later. Also they did that with Lily and Marshal's wedding where he was seen wearing a hat. They only explained that later that he shaved his head.

So I'm pretty sure they would work backwards. Don't they already have the final scene filmed where he reveals how he met the kids' mother, which was filmed around the start of season 2 so that Lyndsay Fonseca would still look the correct age? That actually makes me think now that if they have that kind of scene, the mother might only show up in the final episode right at the end.

 

[DyeLorean]

I get the feeling they do that already. There have been some episodes where they reference something as if Future Ted is talking with hindsight, but that episode doesn't happen for quite a while. He talked about the goat, for example, which turned up at 2 different birthday parties of his. He began to mention something about the 2nd incident with the goat but then said that he got the dates mixed up so it was actually the next birthday along.

Yes yes, that is true. There's a level of detail in this show that is not ordinary in other sitcoms, that's for sure.
But most of those things are 'small' ones, little details. They don't have enough room or characters to expand the 'big' plot points. There are no other characters from 'the future' to incorporate into the story.
I'd help if the 'hey kids...' scenes were different, with more involvement of the kids, asking questions, or whatever. I know is too much to ask, but I think there's really not much left to tell at this point.
Like, let's say the mother appears as a character, but we don't know is the mother until very late in the game, that could work.
That's why I think is a good idea that they are finally getting into the final phase of the series. It'll give the writers more room to breathe and explore.

 

[HighFivingMF]

Maybe she'll be Lily's half-sister or something. Maybe Marshall'll be the member of the gang that finds her attractive.

 

[Artistsean]

Yes yes, that is true. There's a level of detail in this show that is not ordinary in other sitcoms, that's for sure.
But most of those things are 'small' ones, little details. They don't have enough room or characters to expand the 'big' plot points. There are no other characters from 'the future' to incorporate into the story.
I'd help if the 'hey kids...' scenes were different, with more involvement of the kids, asking questions, or whatever. I know is too much to ask, but I think there's really not much left to tell at this point.
Like, let's say the mother appears as a character, but we don't know is the mother until very late in the game, that could work.
That's why I think is a good idea that they are finally getting into the final phase of the series. It'll give the writers more room to breathe and explore.

I always thought that they should have framed the show with the kids always being different ages. Age appropriate for the stories he is telling them. For example one episode he is telling them about something and he edits it to make it appropriate (they do that on the show sometimes) so maybe show the kids are much younger. the Very next episode have the kids be older, young adults, (visiting on a holiday) and the story is more mature and maybe mentions how he slept with an ex-girlfriend. The very next episode could have the kids be teenagers for the story. And they should change the backgrounds too. Sometimes they are in a kitchen, sometimes they are on the porch or in a hospital waiting room. Just because it would add to the idea that he is telling them stories all their lives. I know my parents have told me and my siblings stories about their past, sometimes over and over, over many years. I was very young when I heard how they met, but much older when I found out my father had different jobs growing up. Plus they didn't tell me their life stories in chronological order either. They jumped around, sometimes as the situation required. So different settings and ages (and different actors playing the different ages of the kids) would have helped the story. They wouldn't have needed more than that I think. No need for more than two kids (whatever the age) in one shot and no extra characters in the shot either.
To over explain my idea, say on Halloween Ted is telling them about the Pumpkin girl and they are teenagers, and they are on the porch helping set up the decorations on the house. Another episode could show the kids being in about 5th grade and in the kitchen and Ted edits the pot into sandwiches. And another episode could show the adult kids in a waiting hospital room listening to their father talk about their Uncle Barney. Or Ted telling about a job interview to his teenage son and daughter and then at the end of the episode his teen son is called in for his own job interview.

When they introduce his wife when should they do it during the show?
Last episode of the last season?
Last episode of the second to the last season, and then have her on the whole last season?
Have her on the show last two seasons?
Should they introduce her during, lets say, halfway into the second to the last season and then show her and Ted date and let the audience get to know her, and then the last season would be all about them getting married?
Or should they have the last episode be about how he met her and never show them date or marry?
Or Introduce her in the second to the last season, like a cliffhanger. Then the last season would be all about them dating then getting married and then having kids?
Or should they just introduce her in the last season?

Personally I would love if she was introduced in the second to the last season, we get to know and love her the whole season and ending with Ted proposing to her. Then the last season would be about the wedding, and the last half of the last season show them married, then skips forward to them (a little older) and they have kids. We see them move to Ted's house, we see all their lives change. Sort of a showing the rest of the life story without dwelling on it thing. And without it being some quick home movies montage. We would see older Marshall, older Lilly, Older Robin, Older Barney. We would see them interacting with the kids and not just the kids hearing about them. We would see Lilly and Marshall's kids playing with Ted's. etc.

 

[Dark Raven]

When they introduce his wife when should they do it during the show?
Last episode of the last season?
Last episode of the second to the last season, and then have her on the whole last season?
Have her on the show last two seasons?
Should they introduce her during, lets say, halfway into the second to the last season and then show her and Ted date and let the audience get to know her, and then the last season would be all about them getting married?
Or should they have the last episode be about how he met her and never show them date or marry?
Or Introduce her in the second to the last season, like a cliffhanger. Then the last season would be all about them dating then getting married and then having kids?
Or should they just introduce her in the last season?

This would be the choice I go for. Two seasons might be a bit much, and just having her in the final episode and not even showing them date or getting married would be far too little. We need to get to know her a bit.

Actually I could accept last 2 seasons, if the last season was about them getting married, and the 2nd to last season about her agreeing to be in a relationship with him. I wouldn't mind if she doesn't want to get into anything with him at first and then she comes round to it.

 

[DyeLorean]

@Artistsean, exactly what I had in mind about the kids and how they could be more prominent in the stories. They're just sitting there. You expanded perfectly what I was thinking.

I don't think she should be introduced in the last couple of episodes. She's so important to the overall story (after all, the show is called How I Met YOUR MOTHER), that having her around for 40 minutes would feel completely dull, with no emotional attachment whatsoever.

 

[Dark Raven]

I always thought that they should have framed the show with the kids always being different ages. Age appropriate for the stories he is telling them. For example one episode he is telling them about something and he edits it to make it appropriate (they do that on the show sometimes) so maybe show the kids are much younger. the Very next episode have the kids be older, young adults, (visiting on a holiday) and the story is more mature and maybe mentions how he slept with an ex-girlfriend. The very next episode could have the kids be teenagers for the story. And they should change the backgrounds too. Sometimes they are in a kitchen, sometimes they are on the porch or in a hospital waiting room. Just because it would add to the idea that he is telling them stories all their lives.

I know my parents have told me and my siblings stories about their past, sometimes over and over, over many years. I was very young when I heard how they met, but much older when I found out my father had different jobs growing up. Plus they didn't tell me their life stories in chronological order either. They jumped around, sometimes as the situation required. So different settings and ages would have helped the story. They wouldn't have needed more than that I think. No need for more than two kids (whatever the age) in one shot and no extra characters in the shot either.

To over explain my idea, say on Halloween Ted is telling them about the Pumpkin girl and they are teenagers, and they are on the porch helping set up the decorations on the house. Another episode could show the kids being in about 5th grade and in the kitchen and Ted edits the pot into sandwiches. And another episode could show the adult kids in a waiting hospital room listening to their father talk about their Uncle Barney. Or Ted telling about a job interview to his teenage son and daughter and then at the end of the episode his teen son is called in for his own job interview.

Well they could still have done that, because Lyndsay Fonseca (and probably her onscreen brother) looks older now and obviously not still a teenager. So not all of the future had to be set in the year 2030. Some of it could've been in 2035, for example or even 2040. That way present day Lyndsay and her brother could've featured in other scenes and done other things.

What would've really been cool is that Lyndsay is about to get married and maybe she's getting cold feet, and Ted is telling her certain incidents about what happened on her mother's wedding day, (or perhaps how she even had cold feet) and not just how they literally met.

 

[SpideyVille]

Except that LOST didn't stretch out their idea at all.

If anything, this is the "Smallville circle".

I've never seen Lost, but I've always compared this show to Smallville in the sense that you know the ending to some extent, but not how the characters get there, so most of the fun is in watching the journey. And like I said earlier, the problem with stretching it out too long is that you have the main character's journey get pushed to the side and develops more slowly due to the fact they are trying to prolong it.

 

[Dark Raven]

I've never seen Lost, but I've always compared this show to Smallville in the sense that you know the ending to some extent, but not how the characters get there, so most of the fun is in watching the journey. And like I said earlier, the problem with stretching it out too long is that you have the main character's journey get pushed to the side and develops more slowly due to the fact they are trying to prolong it.

Well I certainly hope it doesn't end like Smallville where we never quite see him become Superman or people's reactions to it. All we saw of him was Superman from the neck upwards, which was extremely dumb.

They could bring in the mother as a character and not have it that it ends with Ted literally meeting her, but shows their relationship developing to the point that he wants to marry her. We even got to see that with Stella, so why not the mother who is a more important character?

I think that if he just meets her, then technically she's not yet the kids' mother, because she can only be that when they're born. Maybe it ought to take us up to the point where she gives birth to the kids.

 

[SpideyVille]

See, I'm a bit debated on what kind of active role the mother should play. Like with Smallville, I never felt a season devoted to Superman was necessary, but at the same time, I felt like what we were given was not enough because there was no personal reflection for how Clark felt.

The way I picture the series ending is Ted meets the mother, and he tells the kids some things about them, and in a 2-3 minute montage set to some slow-tempo song about love and finding the one, they show various moments in their lives and Ted tells the kids how he knew she was the one for him. I think that works because it quickly shows why they were a perfect match for each other, while also giving Ted the chance to reflect on everything that happened in the series and how it helped him become the right guy for her and stuff.

 

[SpideyVille]

How I Met Your Mother Creators on Beginning the Final Season (...Unless the Show Gets a Season 9)
Craig Thomas and Carter Bays say this season is the beginning of the end, one way or the other.

It’s the big question How I Met Your Mother is facing right now, beyond the usual ‘Who’s the Mother?’ one – Is Season 8 the last one for the show? With CBS saying they’d like the show to return for a Season 9 next year (and that they are ”very optimistic” about that occurring), but no new deals in place so far, the show is going into Season 8 with a lot of uncertainty about just how much longer it will run for.

I attended a screening of the Season 8 premiere of How I Met Your Mother this morning, and during a Q&A afterwards, creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays discussed the show’s current status - which is made trickier because this is a series heading towards a specific resolution to its story, unlike most TV comedies.

Said Thomas, of the Season 8 premiere, “That premiere is the first episode of the final season of How I Met Your Mother. I don’t feel like we pulled any punches. That’s the premiere of the last season of How I Met Your Mother for sure, ultimately.” He and Bays both noted that whatever decision is made on a renewal, they didn’t alter their plans for the premiere, which puts at least one major new piece into the puzzle.
Thomas added, “We’re writing this season like it’s the end and we’ll have to sort of figure it out and have a Plan A and a Plan B going, and we’re approaching the moment where those two things will diverge. But we really feel like this launches the last season of How I Met Your Mother.”

The duo admitted that the more time that goes on without knowing, the more problematic it gets for them. Said Bays, “Without saying too much, because there are discussions going on right now for that, but yeah, it gets more and more difficult as it goes on… It’s going to be more and more work that we’ll have to throw out if this isn’t our last season. So we’d like to know as soon as possible, but it’s also a lot of big machinery moving around, so we’re staying out of it and letting it sort itself out.”

Thomas added, “The upside is we’re not coming to work and sobbing every day. ‘This is the last time we’ll do this… We only have 18 more episodes!’ There’s something actually merciful about that, because it’s going to be so hard to say goodbye to it.”

Bays noted what an unusual position they were in, remarking, “We are just teetering right in the middle of the spectrum, which is a weird place to be… It’s like the undecided voters! The people who haven’t made up their mind about who they’re going to vote for, they’re the ones that get all the attention. If this is the last season of How I Met Your Mother, it’s everything we ever dreamed of and more and eight seasons is great. That being said, do we have a ninth season in us? Absolutely. We could do a ninth season if it was possible.”

The How I Met Your Mother cast are all signed through Season 8, so new deals would need to be struck for them to return. Asked if they could conceive of going into Season 9 without the entire current cast, Bays deadpanned, “I would prefer to do it without one or more of the actors. I’m really sick of, like, three of them.” More seriously, he noted that if How I Met Your Mother does come back again, it’s with the entire group, saying, “No, we would never. We would never do it. We’re a family and we’re finishing this thing together.”

I asked whether it seemed like the decision would be made soon and Thomas replied, “There’s a negotiation that’s begun between the studio and the network and actors, but these things can move slow and we don’t know exactly what the case will be. We’ve never been in this exact position before. But we’re going to need to know pretty soon.”

As for their overall thoughts on the show possibly ending this season, Bays said, “We have plenty of idea of how to extend the series, I think one more season, and I think that could be great, but wrapping it up in Season 8 would be amazing. There’s a part of us as writers… We’re drawn to that, a little bit. Because it’s exciting. We get to answer everything and every episode of the season is so much more important because of that. There’s something sort of thrilling and also very nostalgic and sad to think about, but it’s going to be exciting to write. So we’re okay with either outcome and we’re really writing it like it’s the end. We sort of come in every day and go, ‘This is the last season of How I Met Your Mother… Until we hear different.’”

How I Met Your Mother: Season 8 premieres Monday, September 24th at 8pm on CBS. Check back here at IGN TV after it airs for more from our chat with Bays and Carter about what's to come this season.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09...-final-season-unless-the-show-gets-a-season-9

 

[JP]

I hope CBS makes the right call.. aka ending the show.

 

[MadVillainy]

me too

 

[Dark Raven]

I'm getting the feeling that if it wraps this season, it will probably just be Ted meeting the mother at Barney and Robin's wedding and it will end that way. I think the big storyline this season is Barney and Robin getting together. However, if they did go to Season 9 then maybe they'll show us in more detail not just how Ted meets the mother but how he falls in love and they decide to become a couple.

I think if that is the case that Ted only meets the mother in the final episode this season, it kind of makes it more Barney and Robin's show show since it's really the story of how they decide to marry, and Ted's story becomes incidental. So I think an additional season is really necessary to let everyone feel that Ted has had a satisfying journey and we really come to understand why the mother is the one for him and not just another one of his skanks.

 

[JP]

But it's "How I met your mother" Not, "the trials and tribulations your mother and I went through before we got married".

 

[Dark Raven]

But it's "How I met your mother" Not, "the trials and tribulations your mother and I went through before we got married".

Well then they should've just cut out a lot of the story during these past 7 seasons. Ted explained that it was precisely the trials and tribulations he went through in an early season. He said that it wasn't just about how he literally met the mother but the person he had to become in order to meet her etc.

A lot of people meet. That doesn't necessarily mean they will fall in love and get together or get married. In "Friends", Ross and Rachel had already met right at the start in the first season. Didn't mean they got together right away. They had a daughter in Season 8. Would their story just be how Ross literally met her mother, which would be very early on and would miss out all those seasons or how they even (apparently) got married at the end? The same also with other rom coms. People meet early in the movie, but the story doesn't just end there and people assume that everything works out.

Like I said, if this season is the last one, then it's really Barney and Robin's story of how they got married, and Ted's meeting of the mother is really just incidental. He could really meet her at any point and nothing might come of it.

 

[JP]

Like I said, if this season is the last one, then it's really Barney and Robin's story of how they got married, and Ted's meeting of the mother is really just incidental. He could really meet her at any point and nothing might come of it.

No, and you already explained why:

Ted explained that it was precisely the trials and tribulations he went through in an early season. He said that it wasn't just about how he literally met the mother but the person he had to become in order to meet her etc.

And we've gotten plenty of that.

 

[Sawyer]

I don't like that, if there's a season 9, they're going to change course at some point in S8. Play it the same either way.... Barney/Robin wedding by the end of the season, and Ted meeting the Mother. If there's a ninth season, just grow from there. Perhaps at the end, Ted and the Mother find out they're having a baby.

I'd be fine either way, I just don't like the idea of postponing things.

And if S8 is the end, I hope there's at least a few episodes with the Mother. I don't like the idea of....

Ted: "Hi."
Mother: "Hi."
Narrator Ted: "And that, kids, was how I met your mother. kthxbai!"

 

[HighFivingMF]

Then we spin-off into Where I Buried Your Mother.